FORUM ON FAITH

The News Times, June 24, 1995

By Father James K. Graham

OPINIONS ON "PRIEST" COLORED BY THE MYTH OF PRIESTHOOD

A couple of months ago, the film "Priest" aroused the
ire of many people (most of whom did not see it) for allegedly
being anti-Catholic and degrading to priests. Around that time,
I went to California for a college reunion and, seeing my clerical
collar, people in restaurants, in airports and even at the reunion,
asked me what I thought about the movie.

Since I hadn't seen in, I told them I couldn't comment on it,
but I asked them about their impressions. Most of them praised
it for dealing honestly with serious issues and didn't find it
disrespectful either of Catholicism or of priests.

My curiosity aroused by such contradictory opinions, I went to
see "Priest" so I could form my own opinion.

Now that the film is no longer being shown widely and the controversy
has died down, writing about this film may seem pointless. But
it seems to me that most of the film's critics messed the point
by focusing only on the fact that the two main characters are
an uptight young gay priest and a liberal old non-gay priest whose
housekeeper is his mistress.

In fact, the movie really deals with questions of faith and right
relationships and people's struggles to establish and sustain
right relationships when faith and church rules conflict. It also
calls for reflection on a couple of points that seem to have been
overlooked in most of the public discussions of "Priest".

The first is what we might call the Catholic myth of priesthood.
The second is the evidently widespread misunderstanding of human
sexuality. What may not be immediately apparent is the connection
between these two notions.

The Catholic myth of priesthood distorts the meaning of the priestly
vocation by turning priests into some kind of perfect superhuman
beings, admired and respected and even revered because they are
supposedly unaffected by ordinary human emotions, needs and experiences-
especially sexuality. (Compulsory priestly celibacy in the Roman
Catholic Church contributes enormously to this myth.) One feels
sometimes that, as a priest, one is not only expected to help
make God present to people, but actually to be God.

This myth hurts priests by separating them from people, cocooning
them in an artificial environment in which abstract moral principles
may take on more reality than concrete human situations. It can
also foster in priests unreasonable expectations of themselves
and tremendous self-doubt or guilt when they cannot meet those
expectations. The myth hurts lay people by encouraging them to
believe the incredible and expect the impossible from priests,
exposing them to severe disillusionment and even loss of faith
when inevitably something occurs that reveals the priest as an
ordinary fallible human being after all.

A central component in this myth of priesthood is a serious distortion
of the Christian understanding of human sexuality. Instead of
regarding sexuality as a gift from God, essential to the meaning
of our creation in God's image as relational and creative beings,
many people seem to regard sexuality as the basis of human fallen-ness
and sinfulness. Certainly, like all of our gifts, sexuality can
be misused, but surely the misuse of sexuality is not the cause
but the symptom of sin- such as pride, misuse of power, lack of
love, absence of justice. And we can find examples of all of these
sins in the film.

The Catholic myth of priesthood and the misunderstanding of sexuality
connect and reinforce each other in a way that can be (over)simplified
as follows: sex is bad and priests are good, and priests are especially
good (and better than lay-people) because they don't have sex
and sex is even more certainly bad because priests who are good
and better than the rest of us don't do it.

Clearly, then, any movie that challenges these two powerfully
interconnected notions is going to disturb people who cherish
them. And "Priest" does that. It shows that sexuality
is part of the life of priests as well as of lay people. It depicts
some of the possible destructive consequences that come from the
myth of priesthood and the misunderstanding of sexuality. Fortunately,
it also lets us see that faith and prayer and communion (both
social and Eucharistic), can bring forth renewed life out of destruction
through metanoia (change of heart - repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation).

Thus, far from degrading priesthood or maligning Catholicism,
"Priest" pays both the compliment of taking them seriously.
It confirms that Catholic faith and priestly vocations profoundly
affect and shape people's lives. By demythologizing priesthood,
the film contributes to a more realistic and effective understanding
of the priest's role by both clergy and laity. It affirms the
possibility of personal and community growth in faith and love
through examination and paring away of non-essential ideas and
laws that have taken on more importance than the central facts
of Christian faith.

"Priest", a film containing may dramatic and powerful
images, begins with priest carrying a large crucifix that he uses
as a bettering ram to break into the bishop's palace - a forceful
reminder that we all have to carry our crosses and bring Christ
into people's lives. It ends with a confrontation at <ass between
an outraged parishioner who screams Old Testament verses and Father
Greg (the gay priest) who answers with the words of Jesus Christ
- a telling reminder that Christians are not bound by Law of the
Old Covenant but by the Law of Love, the New Covenant of salvation
in our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. (Matthew 22:36-40).

Father James K. Graham is pastor of St. Ann Melkite Catholic Church
in Danbury.